


Holy Fire

by Loupmont



Category: Fire Emblem Echoes: Mou Hitori no Eiyuu Ou | Fire Emblem Echoes: Shadows of Valentia, Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones
Genre: Angst, Character Death, Immolation, M/M, Poisoning, Self-Immolation, Short One Shot, Suicide, ergot poisoning, just a really bad time for all
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-12
Updated: 2018-10-12
Packaged: 2019-07-29 19:24:03
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 4
Words: 2,074
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16270754
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Loupmont/pseuds/Loupmont
Summary: Artur and Gray live a cozy, easy life while aiding the rebuilding of Renais. Due to a mix-up, tragedy strikes the couple.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This is a very short work and I attempted to write it similar to how one would write about a crime or an accident, though with a bit more characterization obviously. It's a one shot, just sort of an alternate scenario.

The young couple watched the rain falling outside, listening to the sound of the drops hitting the roof. They left the shutter open, which resulted in a bit of rain coming into the small wood and brick home at the edge of the capital of Renais. It wasn’t much, but it was enough that it would need to be dried out by the fireplace that was now roaring despite some of the wind coming in.

The lankier man, Artur, brushed his lover’s firm muscles, then buried his nose in his hair to give it a smell. Sweat and soap were prevalent smells, inoffensive to his nose, and quite a comfort. No words needed to be said between the lovers – they knew exactly what the other was thinking, and they needn’t think about anything else but each other in this moment. The rain let up an hour later, leaving just a chilling wind. The more muscular of the two men, Gray, closed the shutters so the heat could reach and be retained in the windowsill to allow it to dry. 

Artur and Gray were grateful that they could remain inside today, that they prepared well for the storm before it hit. They never wanted for much: grain and dried meats were stored in the downstairs cellar, along with fruit preserves and a cask of wine whenever they could afford those; bread was stored upstairs with cheese and meats that were to be used within the next few days; and firewood was kept in a dry storage room off to the side of their home. As for water, the rains and snows took care of that by filling a barrel outside. The barrel was fitted with a fine net that prevented anything from drowning or breeding in the water.

It was all ideal.

It was a dream that they could live like this.

It was Artur’s insistence that they have a large enough house to accommodate all their necessities, though not much more than that. He had planned the place while Gray did most of the handiwork and recruited some friends from the town to help. They finished the house within three months, with construction ending at the same time as the summer. The house was furnished with goods purchased from merchants in the Renais market.

Artur suddenly got up, his stomach growling. Grabbing some bread from the cupboards, he broke the small loaf in half and gave half to Gray and kept the other for himself.

“Do you need anything else while I’m up or are you good?”

Gray gave a thumbs up, “I’m good. Thanks, though.”


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The couple get to work helping people during the winter.

Renais was used to milder winters, where there were no absurd amounts of snow or drastic drops in temperature. Maybe it was the recent defeat of Grado, which had a much harsher climate, that brought the winter tempests there. Maybe it was just bad luck. Either way, Renais practically froze over for the past couple years and many had suffered from inadequate heating and nutrition. Artur, as a monk of Renais, worked tirelessly to aid those that were most vulnerable during this brutal winter.

Gray would tend to the household chores, and when he was done he would come around to help Artur with the relief effort.

“I see you have your tools, what are you up to?” Artur asked.

“I need to winterize a house. Wanna come watch?”

Artur smiled, “I can’t but I’ll come around and see the good job you’ve done.”

“Ever the dutiful holy man”, Gray leaned in for a kiss, “Can you at least spare me a taste?”

Artur happily reciprocated, wrapping his arms around Gray and kissing him on the lips. The two parted ways to work on their respective tasks. 

With his worldly experience, Gray knew how to mix a paste using a recipe of his own invention to seal cracks and joints in the construction of a house. He was a brilliant man in his own right, but many didn’t realize it under his easygoing exterior. He mixed his paste, which consisted of a resin and a catalyst, and started applying it to the interior of the home. He had already done this once with the home he shared with Artur, and once more to Lute’s home when a noticeable draft blew out the fireplace and left a chill.

While he was working, he smelled something familiar. He briefly turned away and saw the source of the smell – a sweet and floral pie that Artur would always buy slices of when they went to the market. The recipe was well known and spread throughout Renais, even to the most rural reaches. Artur tried to make the pie before, but he never knew the right combination of rose and berries to produce the desired taste. This gave Gray an idea: he would attempt to find the right proportions of rose and fruit for the pie recipe. His efforts would start immediately after he finished winterizing this home.

Meanwhile, Artur was helping distribute food and dispose of expired or contaminated supplies, so no one would get sick. Expired grains, fruit, and vegetables went in a cart to the corner of the work area, where the contents would be incinerated in a pit to the right of the cart. Each bag destined for incineration, which could contain solely one thing or many different things, was marked with a blue powder along the top. The powder was for the benefit of the charity workers – no one except them knew what that meant, so many would try to steal from the incineration cart. A monk posted by the cart would keep watch to ensure no one could take anything.

Due to the harsh weather that plagued Renais for the past years, there was an abundance of hard and dark bodies in the grain from the last harvest, some of which started to produce a fungus. Upon someone eating one of these nodules, they would suffer from convulsions, extensive gangrene, and hallucinations, among other symptoms. Most of the affected, due to the unknown nature of the illness, would die. It was called ‘holy fire’, due to the burning sensation produced in the body along with abundances of religious ‘visions’ from some of the sufferers.

The incineration cart was full by the time Artur’s shift was ending, but there was one bag of flour left. It would not fit on the cart, and the pit was only big enough to hold what was in the cart. To prevent theft of this bag, Artur grabbed the bag and took it home after notifying his co-volunteers. He sat the bag beside the cellar stairs once he was home, planning to burn it himself when he got some firewood from the closet-like room. Once he returned with the wood, the bag was gone. He searched around for it but could not find it.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is a rather short chapter, but brevity is good in this case.

Gray was home by the time Artur ducked into the firewood room. He saw the bag of flour, marked at the top with blue powder. Scratching his head, he figured it was a branding thing and that Artur bought it from the market. Many merchants would use powder or chalk to mark their products as unique. It was more efficient than attempting to create and draw a logo on the bags, with the absence of commercial printing techniques.

He started on the pie. He bought a slice from the woman who sold the most slices to Artur – he chose this woman since she got the filling right. Using his sense of taste, he reverse-engineered the proportion of rose and berry through mixing different proportions until he came to the one that tasted the closest. He then made the crust, put the right filling in, then placed it in the oven to bake. He returned the bag of flour to the wall beside the cellar stairs, then awaited Artur.

Artur continued to look for the bag of flour he brought home. He was now in the cellar, in case it was dragged down there. He couldn’t find it in there, and he was about to give up the search. He trudged back upstairs after grabbing a jar of peach preserves for dessert. The bag of flour was now sitting back where he put it. He shrugged, then carried the preserves to the kitchen where Gray was waiting for him.

“I’ve got a surprise for you!”

It was then that Gray presented Artur with the freshly baked pie. The time that Artur had been in the cellar looking for the flour bag was enough time for the pie to bake and cool slightly. Gray sliced up the pie, giving the first piece to Artur, who ravenously dug in. In between bites of pie, he started to talk to his lover.

“Funniest thing happened today. The incineration cart was full, had to take the final bag home. It disappeared but then it was back when I climbed up from the cellar. Weird, huh?”

“Incineration cart? Bag?”

“Oh, it was a bag of flour with a particularly nasty fungus inside. We mark it with blue so we know it’s bad.”

Gray’s face paled, “Oh…did you set it by the cellar door?”

“Yes…wait…”

“I’m so sorry. I used it for this pie. Please, forgive me!” Gray lunged at the pastry with a fork, attempting to eat it so he could poison himself as well, but Artur stopped him.

“I’m sure I’ll be…” Artur trailed off, dropping to the ground. He was convulsing and foaming at the mouth. Gray wasted no time carrying Artur to the monastery, where they had people that knew how to treat this horrible disease.


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The final chapter of this story. Warning - ergot poisoning death and a suicide here.

Evening became night as Gray sat by Artur’s bedside. He prayed, begged, pleaded. He wanted Artur well, his horrible mistake to be erased. The clerics and priests that visited Artur gave a rather grim prognosis – he had ingested a lot of the poison, hence the rapid onset, and would likely not recover. If he did recover, he would likely suffer from neurological symptoms for the rest of his life.

It wasn’t fair. Artur was far too young, and he was Gray’s most beloved. He made a plan: if Artur were to die, he would immediately turn himself in for murder. As he finished that thought, his lover’s body was wracked by tremors. Before this, Artur was weak and could barely talk. Now, after the tremors settled, he wasn’t even conscious.

He flagged down one of the priests, who attempted another healing with a staff. No response. The priest took Artur’s vital signs, which were thready at best. Milder cases tended to respond to staves, as well as antitoxin powders. Not Artur. A few minutes later, he lost his fight to the fungal toxin in his system. The priest delivered final rites, then covered the body with the sheet. Two clerics that clearly were waiting outside were now lifting the body upwards and toward the ‘morgue’. 

Gray sat in stunned silence. Artur was gone, and it was his fault. He got up after a few minutes, running to the guard tower near the entrance of the capital. He yelled toward the guard, begging them to arrest him. He was taken to the guard station, but they found no reason to detain him. Once he was let go, he formulated yet another plan.

He purchased several bottles of wine. He drank two of the bottles within an hour, then doused himself with the rest. He sat in the middle of the capital, still drinking while holding a flint in hand. Once all the wine bottles were depleted, he struck the flint to create a fatal spark. He was engulfed in flames that no one could extinguish. 

Even when the alcohol burned off, the pure passion he felt for Artur and the grief fueled and fanned the flames.

His body soon lay in the dust, smoldering. Nothing was left but blackened bones and some strings of charred flesh clinging to them. The people of Renais continued to talk for long after the deaths of the lovers, about Artur’s accidental poisoning and Gray’s self-immolation. The grim ways in which they both died fueled many folk legends and stories, including the story of copycat lover suicides.

The two were buried side by side after Artur’s body had been dissected to learn more of the disease that took his life. Their graves were united with a single marker.


End file.
